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Volition looking to recruit 100 homies, expand crib
Tired of reading about companies slashing office workforce and laying off employees? Well, the coin has flipped and given us a bit of good news on the other foot. (We may have combined too many expressions there.) Saints Row 4 developer Volition is looking to expand their office floor space as well as hire 100 new employees. Time to dust off that resume! The News-Gazette reports that the city officials representing Champaign, Illinois - where Volition is headquartered - are proposing financial incentives regarding the company expansion, including up to $150,000 in funding for space acquisition and renovation. City Council will consider the request at its study session on Tuesday, July 22. We're not sure if potential hires will be forced to wear their Saints Row pride on their sleeve, but it couldn't hurt, right? Or is this one of those "don't wear the band's t-shirt to the band's concert" situations? [Image: Deep Silver]
Google highlights the lack of diversity in tech by publishing its own stats
While many will tell you that there isn't much diversity among technology workers, it has been tricky to back up that claim with real, hard numbers. Well, Google now has some evidence: it just published diversity figures for its own staff, broken down by ethnicity and gender. And it's not a pretty sight, at least in the company's eyes. About 91 percent of Googlers are either Asian or white, and 70 percent are men. That's not exactly a wide variety of people, and the ratios only get worse when you examine technology-specific jobs.
Disney Interactive lays off 700, plans to scale back annual game output [Update]
Disney laid off one-quarter of its global staff in its video games and Internet division, Disney Interactive, The New York Times reported Thursday. The 26 percent decrease in staff amounts to roughly 700 job losses and also points to a change in strategy for the company, which is expected to scale back annual game output "by as much as 50 percent," the report reads. While profits for Disney Interactive rose in Q1 2014 thanks to the success of Disney Infinity, as it reported a 38 percent increase in revenue year-over-year for that period, it also reported losses in Q3 2013 and Q2 2013 to the tune of $58 million and $54 million, respectively. The layoffs also affect the Internet side of the company's interactive division, which will shutter BabyZone.com and Spoonful.com and move towards sponsorship-based advertising for Disney.com as a result. Prospective layoffs for Disney Interactive were numbered in the hundreds according to reports from one month ago. We've reached out to Disney to determine whether today's layoffs are the same ones in question, and will update as we learn more. Update: Disney Interactive responded to Joystiq with the following statement: "Disney Interactive has consolidated several lines of business as part of an effort to focus the division on a streamlined suite of high quality digital products. As a result of this restructuring, we have undergone a reduction in workforce. These actions were difficult but necessary given our long-term strategy focused on sustainable profitability and innovation." [Image: Disney Interactive]
The Daily Grind: What game would you play for a job?
Today we're going to offer a thought experiment, of sorts. Pick a game that's currently operating, any game. Now imagine that it's your job to play this game five days out of the week, eight hours a day, with occasional time in the middle for lunch. What game would you pick? Keep in mind that this isn't about working as a tester, but still working a job. You would be told what you need to do for eight hours along with daily responsibilities, and it would be up to you to accomplish those goals. Not that those goals would necessarily be logical or even possible within your shift, but that's not the point here. Hardcore raiders from back in the days of World of Warcraft's original launch will likely remember being in a similar situation, but you don't need to have that environment. Maybe you're just playing economics in EVE Online full-time, or perhaps your job is crafting in Final Fantasy XIV. So what game would you play for a job? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
HP tells Chinese factories to stop raiding schools for cheap labor
We know that HP's Chinese sub-contractors enjoy a spot of opera on the production line. What's always been harder to determine though, is who those workers are and what employment rights they have. In an effort to preempt the sort of headlines that have afflicted other brands, HP has issued new guidelines to its Chinese partners -- including Foxconn -- designed to limit the use of students and temporary personnel and give those people more control over their hours. Students often seek work during vacations, but high schools close to factories have also been known to pressure their pupils into taking on shifts during bouts of heavy demand -- even if it's to the detriment of their studies. That won't do for a global manufacturer that needs to be seen as education friendly, so from now on "interns" will only be accepted for work that tallies with their course area, and the School Administrator will just have to find his kickbacks elsewhere.
Google+ comes to Mountain View employment listings, lets you submit applications with fewer clicks
There's no doubt that Google recruiters have their hands full -- the company's lust-worthy salaries and legendary benefits have convinced many of the world's best and brightest to make the move to Mountain View -- but a new application enhancement could mean even more work for the talent acquisition team. Assuming you're signed into your Google account, you'll now be prompted to have your name, contact information, education and employment history filled in automatically, based on data in your Google+ account. Experience with the company's social media service may not be required to land a job at Google HQ, but it probably wouldn't hurt your chances -- if nothing else, it'll streamline the application process a bit. Head on over to the source link below to check out some current openings, and, if you're feeling lucky, link your profile and hit submit.
Massively is looking for San Francisco freelancers
If you follow Ask Massively, you're probably aware of Massively's ethics policy -- you know, the one that keeps us from accepting awesome "free" trips to check out awesome games from awesome developers in awesome cities where we do not happen to have staff. That's where freelancers come in. This round, we're looking for a freelancer in San Francisco, California, to attend events for us on occasion and write about the games previewed there. It won't be a full- or part-time staff position; you'd just be called on for these special events when they crop up. We'd like to think it'd be a nice way for a local to get some industry experience, have some fun, and make some pocket change. Here's the skinny on what we're looking for and how you can apply.
Breakfast Topic: Does your employer know you play WoW?
Recently I talked about WoW skills being useful in the workplace. My stance is that they are. Skills are skills. The whole "WoW has nothing to do with real life" viewpoint baffles me. Are you a real person gaining knowledge you didn't have before? Are you teaming up with real people in game? Then it's real life. But I digress. Regardless of whether or not you utilize some of your Azerothian skills at work, you may not be open about where you got them. Many people believe that all video games are a waste of time -- even people who play them (particularly those who believe WoW has nothing to do with real life). And the number of people who think everyone who plays is addicted doesn't seem to be getting any smaller. World of Warcraft? More like World of Warcrack! AmIrite? /sigh
CD Projekt Red hiring for RPG in a 'brand new setting'
CD Projekt Red, the makers of The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, has posted a boat-load of job openings for an unannounced "RPG in a brand new setting" over on its official blog. "We're looking for people who would rather work on an entirely new and different IP," reads the listing, "a vast RPG for which we want to assemble the best possible staff. It represents an opportunity for you to create a grand new project from the ground up!"The listing also makes reference to the developer's existing "mature dark-fantasy world," distinguishing this new project as likely separate from The Witcher (at least in location), and as one for those who "can't stomach dwarves, elves or sorceresses who put their ample charms on display in Playboy magazine."If you're an artist, programmer or designer looking for work in Poland, give it a shot! There's never any harm in trying. Well, unless you're trying to teach synchronized swimming to an uncooperative bear – there's probably a lot of harm in that.
Rovio employing a growing percentage of Finland
Out of the variety of numbers included in this morning's Rovio 2011 financial report, one line stuck out to us as particularly insane: the employee count. Rovio wasn't a very large company before Angry Birds exploded in late 2009, having only produced a couple dozen under-the-radar mobile titles. But by 2011, the need for expansion was clearly there.Resultantly, employee numbers similarly exploded – from just 28 employees in early 2011 to a whopping 224 at year's end. In case that isn't a dramatic enough statement unto itself, Valve Software employs 293 people, and Valve has quite a few more things to manage. Our biggest fear – a fear that many Rovio employees likely echo – is that the massive upscaling of jobs will result in a massive downscaling should the Angry Birds franchise lose its foothold as king of mobile distractions. Not exactly a new business model in the game industry, unfortunately.For now at least, Rovio's employing a ton of Finnish devs to craft its bird flingers and related products. Someone's gotta think of these clever marketing vices, you know!
Apple's job-creation data spawns debate
Last Friday, Apple released employment data that suggests the company is directly and indirectly responsible for 500,000 jobs in the US. Now that the study has been out for a few days, economists are debating its accuracy, says a New York Times report. Some believe Apple is boosting its numbers by claiming workers who would have been employed at other places if Apple didn't exist. Others question Apple's use of job multipliers which are used to estimate the number of indirect workers associated with an industry. When Apple says it's responsible for 210,000 app economy jobs, the company uses a multiplier to arrive at this figure. Because they can vary so widely, the use of these estimates are fiercely debated among economists. The one thing most economists can agree on is that Apple has a big impact on the economy and is creating new jobs in the US. The extent of this impact and the number of jobs will likely be debated for years to come.
Study: 'App Economy' has created 500,000 jobs since 2007
It's no secret that the rise of smartphones, tablets and social networking has fostered an entirely new market for app developers, but a freshly released study has now attempted to quantify this impact, in terms of real jobs. According to TechNet, a bipartisan network of tech execs, the so-called "App Economy" has created an estimated 466,000 jobs since 2007, when the iPhone was first unveiled. The report specifies that this estimate includes all jobs at Facebook-focused companies like Zynga, as well as dev gigs at Amazon, AT&T and Electronic Arts, in addition to the obvious heavyweights, Apple and Google. As far as geography goes, California leads the way as the most app-friendly state, though New York City tops the list of metropolitan areas. It's not an entirely bi-coastal affair, though, with some two-thirds of all app-related jobs located outside of California and New York. TechNet acknowledges that the App Economy "is only four years old and extremely fluid," so it's likely that these numbers will fluctuate in the years to come, though the organization says these numbers underscore a fundamental principle: "Innovation creates jobs, and in this case, lots of them." Read the full report at the source link below.
Google reportedly hires Apple executive to work on secret project
Simon Prakash, an Apple veteran with eight years of service, has left the Cupertino company to join its rival Google. Prakash most recently served as the senior director of product integrity and was responsible for product quality across all Apple product lines. According to his LinkedIn profile, Prakash was the director of engineering design validation at Cielo Communications and a reliability and FA manager at 3Com before he joined Apple. He will join Google in an unknown capacity working on a "secret project" says Venture Beat. Prakash will supposedly begin at Google starting Monday. Given his background in hardware and product quality, he will likely work with Motorola Mobility on their future cell phones and tablets. This is based on speculation as neither Google nor Apple has commented on Prakash's change of employment.
IBM wins diet monitoring and reward patent, celebrates with sip of Spirulina
Does your employer offer a "wellness rebate program?" No? Then you can't be working for IBM, which has been bribing its staff to eat healthier since 2004. It's a Watson-worthy idea, because what the company pays out in incentives it recoups in lower healthcare costs. Now, after a decade of toing and froing with the USPTO, IBM has finally patented a web-based system that makes the whole process automatic. For it to work, a person must use a micro-payment network to buy food, which allows their purchases to be monitored and compared against their health records. If they've made the right choices, the system then communicates with their employer's payroll server to issue a reward. Completing the Orwellian circle, the proposed system also interacts with servers in the FDA and health insurance companies to gain information about specific food products or policy changes. You can duck the radar, of course, and buy a Double Whopper with cash, but it'll bring you no reward except swollen ankles. This is IBM we're talking about; they've thought of everything. [Photo via Shutterstock]
AMD to cut workforce by 10 percent, invest savings in emerging markets and the cloud
After hitting a speed bump Q2 and making a modest bounce back in Q3, AMD doesn't seem to want to take any chances with Q4: the CPU firm just announced it's optimizing its cost structure to "enhance competitiveness and accelerate growth." In a press release, the outfit stated that it expects to save $10 million in the fourth quarter by cutting its global workforce by 10 percent and killing off a few contractual commitments. AMD says that the workforce reduction is global, and reaches all divisions of the company -- giving employees everywhere an excuse to rattle their boots. Combined with an efficiency heavy restructuring plan, the outfit predicts that the employee reduction will save more than $200 million in operational savings in 2012. AMD says it plans to reinvest a significant helping of the savings in projects targeting lower power, emerging markets and the cloud. Hit the press release after the break for official numbers and restructuring riffraff.
Motorola Mobility to drop 800 jobs
Motorola Mobility has issued a regulatory filing outlining the loss of 800 jobs. The cut will cost the handset manufacturer $31 million -- that number includes $27 million in severance and $4 million to close locations. The reason for the cuts? Bloomberg suggests that it's part of an attempt to lower costs, as the company readies itself to join the Google family -- a decision Motorola's board will vote on in the middle of next month. This news follows last week's earnings report, in which the mobile company reported a $32 million net loss -- not the greatest financial report, sure, but a marked improvement over the prior quarter's $56 million loss.
CyanogenMod founder joins Samsung Mobile, promises to make Android 'more awesome'
We already knew Samsung loved the guys at CyanogenMod, but we didn't think they'd start absorbing parts of its development team. According to Steve Kondik's Facebook page, the Android facade's head sculptor is setting up shop at Samsung Mobile. Sammy's new software engineer told his fans that although his 'side project,' CyanogenMod, is not affiliated with his employer in any way, he will be "working on making Android more awesome." Makes sense, we heard Samsung's phones were looking for a fresh coat of awesome. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
HP seeks NFC engineer for 'smartphone and tablet products'
HP's mystery-wrapped Touch-to-share functionality already does something very similar to Near Field Communication, but it looks like the company's not satisfied with its own tech and will be jumping into the rapidly growing field of companies embracing NFC. A new job listing that has popped up online this week invites applications for the position of NFC Design Engineer on HP's tablet and smartphone team. Responsibilities include the design, testing, and debugging of NFC antennae and systems, but also expand to "support of product in field," indicating that HP is working on an aggressive roadmap here. Don't take our word for it, though, the job advert also advises prospective applicants that they'd have to work in a "high paced, schedule driven environment." Only question we have is this: since when are webOS devices being produced at a high pace?
Panasonic will layoff 17,000 workers globally (updated)
No matter how you slice it, 17,000 is a big number, especially when its seventeen thousand humans looking for jobs. The layoffs represent a four-percent reduction of Panasonic's 380,000 global workforce due to restructuring efforts, according to Nikkei. They are expected to begin this year and will mainly impact employees outside of Japan. Update: Post updated to reflect the actual number of job cuts, not the 40,000 originally quoted by Nikkei or the 35,000 quoted by the AFP. The cuts will come over two years. The news comes as Panasonic reported a ¥40.7 billion ($499 million) loss for quarter, largely on account of a ¥61 billion ($748 million) restructuring cost. Panny says that its bottom line was also affected by a strong Yen, stiff competition in television sales, and the recent earthquake and tsunami.
Good at raiding? Come work for Blizzard
Have you finished murdering Nefarian on heroic mode? Have Cho'gall and even Sinestra fallen before the might of your raid group? Or are you just looking for a unique and entertaining job? Community Manager Bashiok posted on the official forums that Blizzard is looking for more employees for its QA department. But hold your horses -- Blizzard's specifically looking for people with high-end raiding experience to join its team in order to test future content and provide feedback on heroic raids and class balance. Currently, only full-time positions are available, and employees will be required to live in Irvine, California, home of the Blizzard headquarters. As Bashiok points out, the Blizzard campus offers amenities like a library, volleyball and basketball courts, a gym, multiple arcades and a movie theatre -- something you're not going to find with an everyday desk job. Check after the break for the full post from Bashiok -- and check Blizzard's jobs directory to see just what it takes to put in an application.
